Finding Life
by Evra7
Summary: Sequel to The Child Within by MagicWriter16. So read that first, and be sure to review hers, I'm sure she would like that! Okay, this is Ginny's daughter's point of view.
1. Memories

_The light was fading from the room, and from the red haired women's eyes. Like, with every particle of darkness, that came into view, the woman died even more. _

_There was a cold, hard laugh, that was high pitched. A little girl walked in, she had curly black hair, and blood red eyes, like evil. She walked over to the woman, and laughed mercilessly. She watched the woman writhe in pain and agony. And then a man came in, his eyes also were red, but his deathly pale head, was bald._

_"Now, now Christine, do be nice to your Mummy. After all, she did give life to you." He smiled, mockingly. He went to the woman, and looked down at her._

_"Ginevra, would you like to try to escape again?" He asked. The woman named Ginevra spit on his feet._

_"You BASTARD!" She yelled. _

_"Guards, take her away!" The man yelled. And the room became freezing cold, you could see everyone's breath as they breathed out. The lights faded even further into non-existance, and two creatures came into the room. They were hooded, and took many long, rattling breaths at Ginevra. She screamed in agony._

_She attempted speech. "Expect-" she wheezed, coughing up blood. "Expecto-" More coughing and blood. "Expecto Patronum." She finally said weakly. A small silver light errupted out of her hand, and the man and girl laughed at her wandless attempts. _

_The creatures, however, glided the smallest bit back. And you could see the fear in Ginevra's eyes. With a jolt, Annabelle realized that Ginny was short for Ginevra. Ginevra was her mothers name. Her mother also had red hair._

_"Mummy!" she yelled. But nobody seemed to see her, or hear her. Like she didn't exist. _

_The creatures glided back towards her Mum as the silver light died, along with all of Ginny's hope. They took in deep breaths again, and then, her Mum went limp. And there, was life in her eyes, but no spark of thoughts, like her soul was gone._

And with a jolt, fourteen year old Annabelle woke up. She'd had the same dream every night her whole life, as long as she could remember. The first day her memories started, when her Mum had taken her to play in the snow, when she was two and a half years old.

_Ginny stood by the backdoor of her small cottage home. Feeling someone pull at her pants leg she looked down to see a small red headed girl staring up at her._

"_Snow mummy! I want to play!" the little girl yelled._

"_Alright, alright Annabelle. Just wait one more moment. Mummy needs to put gloves on first." Ginny told her. The little girl pouted already dressed to go in the snow. Once Ginny had on her gloves she picked the two and half year old up and brought her outside. There was a nice yard where they had a few acres. The only house nearby was Ron's and that was only about a hundred feet away._

_The yard was covered in a blanket of snow about six inches deep. Annabelle yelled in excitement as she was let down onto the snow. Ginny couldn't help but smile at the tiny girl. She just stood there and watched her as she played with the snow, falling into it and even trying to throw it._

She loved that memory, she'd felt so loved. But it was also the first time she knew she didn't have a Daddy. Her friends at daycare had always jabbered about their Daddy's taking them to play in the snow with their Mummy's when it was cold out. And she'd asked Mummy where her Daddy had gone.

_"Daddy is gone Annie, but he loves you very much. He was so excited to see you when you were born. But he had to go. He won't ever come back." Her Mummy said this so saddly, it broke Annabelle's heart._

Annabelle knew her Father was dead now. To everybody else, she accepted it anyways. But personally, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was out there somewhere. That he was hurt, but somehow, still with her. If she was asked, she'd just say he was dead, no questions asked.

Annabelle grew up hearing stories about how wonderful her father was. And listening to bedtime stories of his escapades. She'd seen many pictures of him at her uncle Ron's house. Not at her mums though. Her mum was always sad when she thought Annabelle wasn't looking. But she'd always noticed it. Always since she was a little girl.

And it hurt, seeing the life out of her mum, seeing how much it hurt her for him to be dead. Sometimes, if Annabelle looked deep enough into her eyes, she couldn't find any life in Ginny's eyes. And she knew, that if her Dad were to be discovered alive, she'd see life all the time in the sorrowful brown eyes of Ginny Weasley.

_**AN: When the print is in italics, it is either a dream, or a flashback.**_


	2. Family

Annabelle Potter was excited, it was her first day of her fourth year. The year that she would be allowed to go to the annual Hogwarts balls, that came and went at the beginning, and end of the school terms, to celebrate life.

She pulled on her trainers without any hesitation at 7:00 in the morning, without being told by her mum. She'd not even set her alarm clock. She could barely sleep at all.

She pulled out a tank top, a deep brown, and light, turquoise trimming on the top. Her favourite Paris Blues jeans, even though they had a grass stain from the week before, from her best friend, Alice.

Alice had deep brown hair, and almost black eyes. Almost an onyx colour. She was very pale, and looked like Sara Bareilles, no matter how much Alice protested and said that she was ugly. And that she couldn't look anything like Sara Bareilles, because Sara was gorgeous.

Alice was actually American, from Seattle, Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. Her accent had gotten similar to all of the other Londoners, but you could still tell where she was originally from.

They'd been racing down Stoatshead Hill, and Alice had pushed her, and she had gone rolling, to the finish line, Alice already there. And she'd been laughing hard, along with Lyra, their other best friend, who had light brown hair, and wide, brown eyes. Both of them were taller than Annabelle (seeing as she was one of the shortest of her age).

Annabelle ran down the stairs, towards the breakfast table, where crunchy, crispy, bacon sat on a plate, greasy to perfection, and crumbly if impacted with too much force. She loved bacon, it was her favourite breakfast food.

And her mum had the Daily Prophet open, sitting acrossed from Annabelle, slurping her orange juice out of juice box, and the bendy straw that came with it.

Annabelle almost laughed, her mother had always been odd. How many adults would you see drinking out of a juice box and a bendy straw? But she contained it, and piled the bacon onto her plate.

"Bells, only three pieces for now, okay?" Her mum said sternly, finally acknowledging her daughters presence, looking up from her paper.

"Yes Mum. And good morning to you too!" She smiled sarcastically.

"You seem awfully chipper this morning." Mum commented, because, usually, you couldn't get a word out of Annabelle in the mornings, she was _not, __**not**_ a morning person.

"Mum, are you sure you can come to the first Hogsmead trip of the year and help me pick out my dress robes for the ball?" Annabelle asked, answering her mothers question, albeit, cryptically.

"Ah, of course. Because you are leaving for your fourth year today. Yes, I will be able to come, Professor Mcgonagal has cleared it with me." Her mothers brown eyes glazed over, as if being brought down memory lane.

"Good. I was thinking perhaps we should go to Patil's." Annabelle said.

"Why not Dr.Emporiums?" Ginny asked. Dr. Emporiums was a dress robes shop, owned by Ginnys best friend, that was her age, Luna Longbottom. They sold a very peceiliar style of clothes. It was actually supposed to be Dress Robes Emporium, but Luna thought it would sound more, erm, mystical, and mysterious if it was named something different, and still told what their main sales and merchandise were.

"But Mum, I wanted something _elegant, _and, something that would be in style, not the bargain-esque robes, that light up, and glow in the dark, and sing songs that Luna sells."

Ginny grinned a little bit, but then put her stern face back on. "You'd better not speak like that in front of your friends. You know that they like Dr.Emporiums, and are very loyal." Ginny raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, well, erm, my friends have very, er... odd... tastes in clothes. You know, they like flashy stuff. But I want something simple, yet beautiful and elegant." Annabelle said.

"Oh alright then, but we have to at least put in an appearance at the shop, at least to say hello to Luna." Ginny said. Annabelle nodded.

And then there was a knock at the door, and there stood aunt Hermione, as pregnant as ever, looking impatient and pointing to a Blue Ford Anglia, a hand-me-down from Granddad, and repaired from its' time in the Forbidden Forest in Uncle Ron's Hogwarts days.

Ron was grinning like mad. "Mrs. Hormonal here seems to think we need to be a few hours early. She doesn't want Evan to miss his first train ride." Aunt Hermione had thought it would somehow honour Annabelle's father, and her Grandmother on his side to give her son Annabelle's, fathers, mothers maiden name as a first name. At least her maiden name wasn't Witchburn or something, like Rachel's from that movie, Sydney White, that Annabelle had seen a few years before.

Though it would almost be alliteration. Witchburn William (after uncle Bill) Weasley. Now how awesome would that be? Though, probably not a good name to have in the Wizarding World, at Hogwarts school of _Witch_craft and Wizardry.

Annabelle grabbed her trunk from underneath the table, grabbed her mums hand, and ran towards the blue car, as fast as she could. But then she tripped over the welcoming mat, and scraped up her elbows, and her ankle was hit with her trunk, which thankfully, had a _featherlight charm _on it.

She pulled herself up, and dusted herself off, checking for any dripping or pooling blood on her elbows. She went on with her run, just much more careful and slow this time.

"I'm okay! Thanks for asking!" She said.

"You're very welcome." Ron said. Annabelle shook her head, her uncle thought he was funny. But, it was sad to see him try so hard to be funny, and utterly fail each time.

The door magically opened, and the car grew in size to fit another person. It was a recent charm that had been made legal at the ministry, because of the need to stop global warming (and underage apparition).

In thirty minutes, they reached Kingscross.


	3. Kings Cross and Diagon Alley

Annabelle walked to the barrier, and leaned casually against it, her trunk tight in her hand. Her Mums owl, was at home, so she didn't have to carry her to Hogwarts and back.

Annabelle found herself on the other side of the platform, and almost fell down onto the cement floor, like always. She was always having spaz attacks, and one of her best friends, Alice was always making fun of her for it. And so was Louise, her French cousin, Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's daughter. She was another good friend, though she was so shallow, that you wouldn't be able to feel the water if you dipped your feet in. But hey, that is what happens when you're raised by Aunt Fleur, who had always been hard to please. Always complaining about how the British overcook their steak (well, theirs is way too bloody and undercooked, at least she isn't forced to eat the steak when she goes to a Weasley family dinner!). Complaining about the weather, and the lack of fashionable stores, even Patil's wasn't good enough for her! To put it in a nutshell, Louise was an Aunt Fleur miniature, silver hair, round face, and veela charm and all. She wouldn't be able to pass as a Weasley at all if no one knew who her parents were, except for the light spread of freckles acrossed her nose, none of which Annabelle had.

Ginny had always said that Annabelle looked more like her father than a Weasley, the only thing being Annabelle getting the dreaded Weasley curse, red hair. The other one was freckles, which unfortunately, she didn't get. She'd always wanted to look like part of the family, but her eyes, and freckleless complexion changed everything. She didn't want to look like her "dead" father, that no one talked about anymore, and changed the subject at all costs. Her mum barely talked about him anymore that Annabelle was grown up.

She went over to a bench, and sat down. The Hogwarts express wasn't even there yet! Aunt Hermione was losing her mind from being pregnant.

She pulled out her recently aquired cell phone that she had gotten for her birthday from Fran and Henry, her muggle godparents, who now knew that Annabelle was a witch, and her mother was too. They'd taken it surprisingly well when Annabelle was seven and had done some accidental magic while at their house while Ginny was working. It was then that the truth came out. Because there was no other explanation about how all of the floors in the house just suddenly had scorch marks on the floor.

And suddenly, everyone else came onto the platform. Her mum came over and sat next to her, and uncle Ron was talking to Aunt Hermione. Annabelle could hear their conversation.

"Hermione, it is seven thirty in the morning, don't you think maybe we should do something else in London, because I'm pretty sure the Hogwarts Express won't even be here for a couple of more hours!" He yelled nervously.

"Ronald, if we leave now, we won't get back in time, what with traffic, and muggles, and-"

"Hermione-"

"NO RONALD! WE ARE NOT LEAVING! Remember how your family was always running late when we came? One time you even missed the Express, and flew the Anglia to Hogwarts!"

"Don't talk about Sharon that way 'Mione, shes old. She had a hard time then too! And besides, we missed it because of Dobby!"

"Ron, stop takling about the car as if it was a person, and don't blame it on Dobby, he was just trying to protect Harry!" And then they both stopped arguing.

Annabelle knew of their adventure in their second year, and her mum's possession. And how her father had saved her. It had been her favourite bedtime story as a child. But she stopped requesting it after she saw how much the story had torn her mother up. She'd never been told the story of how her parents had gotten together, or how her dad had died. And it woud probably kill mum to retell it. Anything that mentioned Harry tore her up.

"Mum, I am going to go to Harrods. Do you want to come?"

"Bells, how about we go to Diagon Alley, so that we can at least get some extra books?"

"Okay mum. I've been wanting to read that new one that Dean Thomas published about Football." _**(To my fellow Americans, Soccer:D)**_. "The critics are raving about how good it is." Annabelle laughed at the cliched saying. Annabelle had been playing football for a long time, and been a bookworm since her last year in Primary school.

"Oh Bells. No one even understands football at your school, except for Ian Thomas, Dean's son. And he doesn't even like it." Ginny said shaking her head.

"Shall we take the tube then?" Annabelle asked. And then, a trolley came through the platform, and there was Alice.

"Hey Alice, you want to go to Flourish and Blotts with us? Or how about Mione's shop? Verity is working today." Verity had at first worked at the twins shop, but now was working at all of the Weasley stores, including Aunt Hermione's. Verity had married Charlie. And now they had children too. Two of them. Mia and Michel. They were twins, and two years old. They were adorible.

"Bella. I think we should go to Mione's. I mean, Flourish and Blott's will be filled with last minute school shoppers. Why are you here so early?" Alice called Annabelle Bella because they'd both read an American muggle book about vampires called "Twilight" and the main characters name was Isabella, Bella for short. And her boyfriends sisters name was Alice. So they went along with the names, though no one else called Annabelle "Bella". Alice's mom was early for everything.

"Oh, Aunt Mione dragged us here early, not wanting to miss Evan's first train ride. Being pregnant has messed with her common sense and sense of time." Annabelle laughed.

Alice just nodded. "Lets get going, I am not too keen on missing a ride to Hoggywarts either." She said, half joking, half serious.

They did end up taking the tube. Not so hard to do, since they were at the station in the first place. They stopped at the nearest station and took a cab to Charingcross road. And walked into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hey Tom!" Annabelle greeted to the elderly innkeeper. He needed someone to be friendly to him these days.

"Hello Miss Potter, Miss Cullen." He said, and nodded at Alice. Annabelle tried to hide the smirk on her face, Alice had told Tom that her last name was Cullen, just to get a good laugh out of it.

As soon as they entered Diagon Alley, through gritted teeth she said, "That was not very nice Alice. Why don't you tell the poor dude your real last name?"

"Because it is funny, Bella. That is why. And I don't want the creep to know my real last name. I mean, he could turn into a stalker or something!"

"Alice, Alice, Alice..." Annabelle sighed. "If he wanted to stalk you, he would've done it already. And besides, he's been tending the Leaky Cauldron for decades, he'd be in Azkaban if he was a stalker. Der!" She said the last one in a very uncnvincing American accent.

"Don't do that again!" Alice said, clearly amused at her attempt at an American accent.

"I wasn't planning to. I can't talk like that at all!"

"I've noticed over the last couple of years!"

"Hmmph."

Mione's was right next to WWW. So they stopped in the Joke Shop too, and visited Fred and George.

"Hello dear niece." Uncle Fred said.

"It's a pleasure-"

"And Honour-"

"That you've-"

"Taken you're joke-"

"Loving friend-"

"To our little-"

"Undeserving-"

"Shop". Fred finished.

"It had better be a pleasure, because otherwise you must have forgotten your correct adjectives being so old and all." Alice said.

George wiped a fake tear from his eyes. "I'm so proud-"

"We need to-"

"Have her apprentice-"

"Us this year." Fred and George said.

"Hey what am I, French meat?" Annabelle asked. "You were supposed to apprentice me first!"

"You'd might as well be French meat, Bella. Cause I'm going to make it hard for you to beat me in the prank department." Alice said.

"Well, dear, lovely, uncles, we must be going to the bookstore!" Annabelle said.

They didn't stay long at the store however, because they ran into Laurita _**(an: pronounced Laur-etta)**_ Zabini, Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass-Zabini's daughter.

They did get a few books though, Football Dreams by Dean Thomas, Lilsith by Mira Smith, and Romeo and Juliet, by the obvious writer, William Shakespeare.

Hogwarts had book clubs, writing classes, and English and Maths classes now. And it had science, a branch off of muggle studies, and Social Studies. Only it was history for the muggle world, instead of History of Magic, which was taught by the most boring teacher ever, Professor Binns.

They bought _Stormbreaker, _by Anthony Horowitz, and all of the books in the Alex Rider series, and left. They had read _Stormbreaker _in English class in first year, and they were just now getting to reading the third one, _Skeleton Key. _Also known in spanish as _Cayo Esquelato. _An actual place in the Cuban islands.

The same year after reading _Stormbreaker, _they watched the movie with Alex Pettyfer as Alex Rider, to stop "Darrius" Sayle. Though in the book, his name was Herod Sayle. And Sabina Pleasure wasn't braught into the series until _Cayo Esquelato. _But they had put her in the movie too.

And then they went back to the nearest tube, and to Kingscross.

A lot of people were at Kingscross when they got back, and through the platform. The Malfoys were waiting, Draco and Cho Malfoy and their daughter Carina, and their son, Scorpius.

Annabelle glared at Scorpius and Carina. They were the most stuck-up people in the planets.From her experiences with them, Carina had always made fun of Annabelle and her friends. But mostly just Annabelle. She held a genuine grudge against Annabelle, and she didn't know why. She ha just hated her, and treated her like crap since the day they met, when Draco had brought her over for a playdate with Annabelle, even though they were two years apart. Scorpius was one year younger than her, and he'd treated her a little better. He didn't talk to her now. And she was happy that way.

Annabelle and Alice looked at each other, daring each other to look towards Carina and Scorpius again. But neither did. Carina and Alice used to be friends, before Alice had become friends with Annabelle. But then, she dropped her as friend like a call is dropped in a deadspot.

Annabelle looked at her All-Star Converse clad feet. And then, she saw a pair of Jimmy Choos, and looked up at the owner, her friend, Lyra, who looked especially tanned, and like her eyes were darker than usual, and her hair lighter than ever. She'd gone vacationing in Hawaii, an American state, and island.

"So, how was your summer? Since I left you two?"

"Oh it was lovely. We went to visit my brother at university. In Seattle. They have the most beautiful fountain in the middle of campus. And I loved Suzzalo library, Will on the otherhand, didn't. He said he'd had too many traumatic experiences with books there." Alice talked so fast, her American tongue back to her, like every year when she visited America for the holidays, it sounded like spanish or French, and Annabelle nearly didn't catch what she'd said.

They each entered the scarlet steam engine, and found compartment A, behind Compartments P and H. P for Prefect, and H for Heads. A for Annabelle. It was sort of an inside joke for them.

Setting down their trunks, they exited to say goodbyes to their families.

"Now Annabelle, behave yourself, if I hear of you getting one detention before the ball, you're not going, okay?" Ginny told her mock sternly. The funny thing about it was, Annabelle had never gotten a detention. Not one in her three years at Hogwarts. She'd been a perfect student, no detentions, and no grades below an E.

"Yes Mum." She told her smiling. "No problem." She hugged her mum goodbye, and waved to her as she re-boarded the Hogwarts express with her friends.

As they walked into the compartment, Annabelle looked at her friends tiredly. "You know guys-" Yawn. "- I think I'll take a quick kip,-" Yawn. "I didn't sleep a wink last night." She said, covering her mouth to again yawn.

They both nodded. "Have sweet dreams Annabelle." Lyra and Alice said together, grinning.

_The room was freezing cold. And in walked a girl. The girl from the dream that had haunted her dreams since she was a small child. Christine. Her curly black hair was longer than it was in the other dreams, and her scarlet red eyes were now a dark black. She was now as tall as Annabelle, and was the same exact size, and looked the same age as her._

_Christine grinned at Annabelle. "You know, sister, I've been waiting for the day to personally meet you. I've been yearning for it for years ever since I sent you that first dream of our mother dying." Her voice was high pitched still, only more mature. But cold. And there was something sinister about it._

_"What do you mean _our _mother? You don't exist in the real world. Only in my dreams."_

_"Soon that will change. Soon, you will cease to exist in our body. I will control it. And the world will be in my hands, and no one will know. Except for mother of course.But we can also change that."_

_"When you say _we_, you mean-" Annabelle started._

_"-Your body, and my mind of course Annie."_

_"Nobody has called me that since I was a kid."_

_"So that has changed since my last visit?"_

_"Your last visit was last night!"_

_"No, I have only sent you the dream once, your mind just keeps replaying it, and I was merely showing you what would've happened if my father had won instead of yours. Now Annabelle, why don't you just listen to me, and things will go smoothly?"_

_"No. I will not allow you to carry out your evil plans! You'd ruin the world!"_

_"No Annie. I'd be making it a better place. Free of mudbloods and-"_

_"I will not allow this to happen!" Annabelle said. "No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!"_

"ANNABELLE! WAKE UP!" Lyra yelled.

"What?" She asked, her eyes opening.

"We've been trying to wake you for the last half an hour! You were screaming your bloody head off!" Alice said.

"I must've been having another nightmare." She muttered.

"Another? I've not heard about any of these nightmares. What are they about?" Alice asked.

"There is a young girl in it-"

"It? I thought you used a plural, meaning more than one, it is a singular." Lyra said.

"It's usually the same one over and over." Annabelle said. "Her name is Christine. She has black hair, and usually red eyes. And shes around four usually. And my mum is usually in it. And shes being tortured by a bald man, also with blood red eyes, and a serpentine nose. He's really pale. Him and Christine laugh about torturing her. And I don't usually realize that the red-headed woman is my mum until the middle of it. And then, everything goes black, and freezing cold. These horrid creatures come in, and they take long rattling breaths, and my mum seems to die even more. And the light fades from her eyes. This silver light comes from her finger tips, and she says "Expecto Patronum". It's not that much light. Just a bit that is merely mist. But the creatures back up, though the man and Christine are laughing about how weak she is, and how she can barely do anything without her wand. And the silver mist dades from sight, and the creatures take even deeper breathes, and mum, she goes limp, and her eyes are blank, her irises are full of colour, but every emotion in her eyes has deminished, even the fear, and all that is in her eyes is emptiness. And that is when I usually wake up."

"Woah, intense dream." Alice muttered.

"But this time, Christine, she looked the same size as me, and she called me her sister. Her hair was a little longer, and this time her eyes were black. She called me Annie, like when I was little, and she talked about my father winning, instead of hers, but how the world was going to be different. How we were going to change it." And Annabelle voice stopped abruptly, lost in thought. Why was she dreaming about this girl, and who was Christine? What was she talking about, her father winning, instead of Christines? And why had she called her sister? Her mother had never mentioned a "Christine". She'd never mentioned anything about a competition, or about another man that she could have possibly called "dad." And then, she knew, she knew she'd have to find out the story that Christine knew, but that she didn't. And then a voice broke her thoughts.

"Have you ever told anyone else about these dreams?" Lyra asked.

"No, my mum would've flipped if she'd known that I'd had dreams about her dying, and some little girl by the name of Christine enjoying it." Annabelle had to search for th information, but where? She'd probably not find anything that had whatever happened recorded in it. Except for a diary. She didn't know why, but the thought of her mum owning a diary sent a shiver over her.

"You should tell someone. Especially your mum. She might know where you've heard the name Christine before." Alice suggested.

"I can't."

Just then, the door was open, and in walked Laurita Zabini walked in, a small smirk on her face. "Is Annie having nightmares? Is itty bitty Annie scared?" She asked in a baby voice. The mockery sounded familiar, but Annabelle didn't think she'd ever heard it before.

"As scared as you are noble Zabini." Annabelle said.

"Was that an aim to hit a nerve?" Zabini asked.

"Looks like my aim is perfect Laurita. Now leave us, or we'll fetch the prefects." And then Zabini left.

When they finally got to Hogwarts, Annabelle looked at the beautiful castle that was to be her home for the next nine months, and then, all of the excitement was too much. She jumped up and down clapping, "eeeeee" she squealed.

"Erm, Bella, do you need help?" Alice asked.

"No it's just, I've been looking forward to these balls since I learned of them, I've always wanted to be able to be on the dance floor, with the guy of my dreams, and the most gorgeous dress."

"Good luck with that." Alice said. Sometimes she was a really big downer on excitement.

"Sounds more like plans for a wedding than anything else." Lyra said.

"Shut the hell up Lyra!" Annabelle mouthed.

"Screw you." Lyra replied.

"Screw yourself!"

"I'm not that type of person."

"Oh you seem like it."

"Break it up." Alice cut in.

"No one asked you to be in the middle Alice." Lyra said scathingly. Sometimes Annabelle thought that she was bipolar. One minute she would be happy, and then the next she wouldn't feel good. She'd say something, then Annabelle would say something back, and she'd say she'd never said that, and then she was grumpy, and then she'd be friendly again. It was annoying, she was constantly PMSing.

As she climbing into the carriage, her hand slipped on the door handle and she fell onto the cobblestone street, scraping up her knees. There was just a little blood. And then there was a little more, to where there was a big dot of blood. She put her hand on them to stem the flow a little bit. Her hands had blood on them, just a few smears, and the bleeding stopped. But her knees still stung.

The darkness weaved patterns through her sight, though she could have sworn that the station was lit up just a few moments ago. Specks of blackness covered even more of her vision in front of her, and her peripheral vision. And the light left in her sight swam away, and the street rose up, making her fall.

And that was all she knew.


	4. The Train Ride

_Annabelle woke up in dungeons. Cold dungeons. And dark, almost as dark as the darkness before she'd woken up. But this darkness still had strands and traces of light in it._

_The floor was made of stone, like in castles, instead of homes. And this couldn't be Hogwarts. Annabelle had been in almost all of the dungeons in Hogwarts, and she knew this wasn't one of them._

_And then she realized she had seen the dungeons before. The dreary lifeless dungeons she had watched her mum die in in her dreams. The place that haunted her mind. Awake and asleep. In her very own conscious. In almost every one of her thoughts. It followed her like a stalker. Like some lovesick puppy that needed a home, and had found it in her mind._

_And then, in walked Christine. Not the same face that she usually saw in her nightmare. But the one she had seen just earlier in the day. Or had it been weeks? Annabelle didn't know how long it had been. She could've been out for centuries for all she knew._

_Christine's hair was sleeked back into a tight bun. Not similar to professor McGonigall's though. It held an air of arrogance in it, not sturness. And it held a dark aura. One that Annabelle could barely look at without feeling pain._

_And Christine's black elegant eyes held an evil glint to them, and they were sparkling, like she sensed her "sister's" pain. She grinned._

_"Like what I've done with the place since you last visited here? I've added nice touches to it that father never got the time to add."_

_"Leave me the hell alone Christine! Why must you torture me every time I close my eyes? I used to feel bad for you, being raised that way. And you couldn't have been so bad, and so tiny, if it was my own dream. If I had had control of it. I always though I was insane, dreaming of my own mother dying! And being tortured, and weak, and defenseless, and lifeless, and being laughed at by you! JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Annabelle yelled._

_And then, Christine laughed, and melded into Annabelle_. The world dissolved. And there was light.

The light was head-splitting, after being in the dark for so long. In her dreams. And her actual life right before everything was replaced by dungeons.

And then, she realized her head was elevated. And she was on something hard, but not cobblestone.

"What happened?" Annabelle asked.

The person holding her head spoke. "I saw you slip trying to get into the carriage. And you fell. I think you fainted at the sight of the blood that you wiped on your hands though." A deep voice said. It wasn't deep deep, like some peoples were. But it was pleasantly so, like it had a tone of soprano in it. Like whoever was speaking hadn't fully gone through puberty yet. But his voice was strong.

She looked up into blue waves of melted crystal swirling about by dark specks. They were the most gorgeous eyes she'd ever seen. And then she looked at the rest of him. His paled face spoke of the country that they lived in, and there were dark circles under his eyes, not really bags, but just like they were bruises. But they were obviously from lack of sleep. He had black hair, that wasn't dry like some, but wasn't oily like she'd seen on Snape's in her mums old year book from her fifth year. It was rather messy, but it was like each piece was placed perfectly in the correct spot. It wasn't messy like she'd seen in photos of her dad. It was wavy though.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I am Edwin. Edwin Macabee."

"Oh, I am Annabelle. Annabelle Potter. You have no idea how close your name is to a book character I've read about in muggle books. His name is Edward Cullen. But he's a vampire. And he is not real."

Edwin chuckled. "That is rather amusing."

"A big coincedence if you ask me." Annabelle said. "And the funny thing is, the main characters name is Isabella, but they call her Bella." She giggled.

Edwin looked at her with concerned eyes. "After the feast, I am going to take you to Madame Pomphrey. You normally don't act like this."

"Oh so you watch me then?" She asked triumphantly.

"Are you sure you didn't pass out from being drunk. Maybe we should have you take a sobriety test after the feast." He said sternly.

"I am not drunk. Just sometimes, when I am really distracted, I say whatever rolls through my head. It's like word vomit. And it just keeps coming. Crap. I did it again." She blushed. Annabelle couldn't remember ever in her life blushing at all. And this guy she'd never noticed before makes her blush. "So what house are you in?" she asked.

"I am in Ravenclaw. You know, the smart house."

It took Annabelle a minute to realize what he'd said. "Hey!" She yelled. And then, she also realized how close they were , and how his hand was still under her head. "How long have I been out?" She asked.

"About ten minutes. We'll have to walk back to the castle. I told Alice and Lyra to not wait up. I didn't know how long it would take you to come to."

"Okay. Erm, you didn't hear me say anything did you?" She asked.

"No. Just something about someone named Christine, and for her to leave you alone."

"Oh, Christine was my sister."

"My condolences then." He said awkwardly.

"Oh shes not dead. I just, I have these strange dreams. With her in them. And she's so cruel. It's just, I've had nightmares with her in them since I was around two. In one of them, she killed my mum. And I've felt so horrible dreaming about my mum dying all these years, but the dream, it haunts me." She was crying now. She'd never confided in someone before, about her dreams, or hardly at all about anything. And now she was telling this stranger everything. Edwin had a strange affect on her.

He rubbed her hair awkwardly. "Erm, do you mind if we start back to the school?" She asked him.

He shook his head no, and he set her head gently on the bench they were sitting on, and pulled her up after he was standing.

Annabelle wobbled slightly. And then she felt a pair of strong arms envelope her body. "Maybe it's best if I carry you until we are in sight of the castle." Edwin said.

Annabelle glared at him. "I can walk fine thank you!" She said. And she walked out of his arms, and she felt her ankle roll to it's side.

"Mmmhmhm." Edwin muttered. "Just let me carry you."

"What if you drop me, huh mister? What then mister smart guy?" She asked.

"Erm, we both go to the hospital wing. And besides, I wouldn't drop you."

"But Ravenclaws aren't strong. Everybody knows that. Except you."

"Is that a jab at my house?" He asked, mocking offendedness.

"You made one at Gryffindor, I make one at Ravenclaw." She grinned. And then, she was scooped up into his arms again, and carried as if she were weightless towards the gates that had Boars on them.

It took them ten minutes to get there. It must not have been as long with the carriages. And then, they walked around the perimeter of the lake, and to the entrance hall.

"Might as well not even go to the feast now, they're bound to be over soon." He said.

"But I am hungryyyyyy." Annabelle whined. "And besides, Madame Pomphrey is still at the feast. No one will be in the hospital wing." she said stubbornly.

"I was going to suggest going to the library where no one was about. And we would even be able to get into the restricted section if we wanted to. But if you want to go to the hospital wing instead, that is fine."

"Shut up Edwin!" She laughed, and he carried her off to somewhere in the castle.

They arrived at the library in record time, with him running down the corridors. He set her down on one of the sofas in the cafe they had in the far corner away from the books.

Edwin picked a menu up from its spot in the table. The menu was ever changing. Whatever was being served in the great hall was being served at the cafe. Taking the menu out of the place it had been signaled to the house elves that they could serve people at the cafe too. It was a new installment apparentally.

Annabelle looked at the menu. It had bread- more like dinner rolls- soup -tomato, chicken noodle, Asian, and spaghettios surprisingly. They had meatloaf, hotdogs, crisps, chips, hamburgers, and they had mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fried potatoes, and fried green tomatoes, and ranch dressing and gravy.

Annabelle couldn't decide what to eat. "If I get meatloaf, I'll have to get ketchup, and the same with a hotdog and crisps and chips. If I get any type of potatoes, I have to have sour cream, and cheese. Maybe I'll just get some tomato soup and saltines."

After they were finished eating, and after Annabelle had thanked the houself who had served them- Flashy- profusely, Edwin made Annabelle go to the hospital wing, where the graying Madame Pomphrey was waiting for someone to show up.

"And what did you do this time, Miss Potter? I swear, you are just like your father, he was always in here, at least once a year. Record was fifth year, I believe. Since he couldn't play Quidditch, and had really hardly any free time. He was in here dozens of times in his fourth year though."

"Oh really? Why?" Annabelle asked curiously.

"He was in that blasted Twiwizard tournament." She told Annabelle about how her father's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, even though he was underage, and of all the tasks, except for the third, which she refused to talk about, saying it was innapropriate for someone her age, and no one should have had to face what he did.

"But he was my age, and he lived through it!" Annabelle said.

"Yes, well, he shouldn't have had to. I shouldn't have told you the story anyways, should've left it to your mother." Madame Pomphrey hmmmphed.

"Well, anyways, thank you Madame. May I go now?"

"I suppose, the potion should have taken affect now. How's your head?"

"Oh it's been fine since I woke back up. Edwin made me come up here is all." She said.

"You are free to go." Madame Pomphrey said.

Annabelle left, and walked to the large French doors. "Thanks, Madame. For everything, the story, and the potion." Annabelle said,

and left.

The walk to Gryffindor tower was a boring, and tedious trip, because the potion was making her sleepy.

As soon as Annabelle got into her dorm, she slid onto her bed, over the covers, and fully clothed, falling asleep within minutes.


	5. Nightmares

Annabelle, woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed, and realized, that it was the first time, in years, that she'd not had a nightmare, new or old._ Maybe Christine wasn't able to get through the fog the potion put on my mind_, Annabelle thought.

She threw on her new robes, and a dark blue blouse underneath, and a gray pleated skirt. She brushed through her hair, without difficulty, and ran down the stair way.

"Might want to be careful, Annabelle! You might hurt yourself!" Called Lyra.

"Shut up." Annabelle said. "I'd just put lotion on is all." She said.

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight."

They walked with Alice to breakfast in the great hall.

"Soo?" Alice started. "How was your time with Edwin?"

"As good as can be, waking up in a stranger's arms, I guess." Annabelle told her. "How are things with Jasper?"

"I'm still waiting for him to come 'round. I think he likes me, but, I'm waiting for him to ask me."

"I hope I get asked by someone, when it comes time for the Halloween Ball." Annabelle said, imagining a masked man, beautiful, and handsome, gallant, chivalrous, and, graceful. _But maybe my hopes are too high. _Annabelle thought. _Why would someone so wonderful like me anyways?_

Their first class was charms, with the Slytherins. _Ugg, as horrid as the boots. _Thought Annabelle.

They learned the accio charm, which only took Annabelle a few minutes to master.

"Well done, Miss Potter!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, grinning. He reminded Annabelle of an elf, or that Santa Claus fellow, with his long, curly white beard, and his merry eyes. He had many of the traits that she'd seen in portraits of Albus Dumbledore, her mother's mentor, only, he looked nothing like him at all, the traits were very different, but alike.

Annabelle sat in her seat, with nothing else to do, and yawned. She didn't know why she was so tired, she'd had her first night of fitful sleep in years! _You know, you need to have me somewhere close for you to survive! _Christine's voice spoke to her.

_No. You never have even extisted. Why would I need you?_ She said to Christine.

_Because I am a part of you. I am you. _Christine spoke.

_How can you speak like this, and take control of my dreams, if you are me. And how then, am I not evil?_

_You know. I am an imprint of what you would be. And I still exist, however small, in you, because neither of our fathers are dead. Both are only weak. Nothing of what they used to be. They are alive. And we are also. I am you. And you are me. _Christine spoke.

_I am only talking to myself, thinking about my nightmares. Christine does not exist._ Annabelle tried to assure herself.

_But I do. Just, not physically._ Christine's voice whispered. _You know you want me to be free. And for you to not be under my torment. Just stop trying to block me. Stop trying to pretend I am a figment of your imagination. Because I am real, and I am you, and living inside of you._

_That is not true! _Annabelle tried to shush Christine, and continued to read her book, Les Miserebles, by a muggle named Victor Hugo. _Filthy scum._ Annabelle thought. And she gasped, that was not her thought. She _was _becoming Christine!

"Are you alright Annabelle?" Alice asked her. "Does your head still hurt from last night?"

"I'm fine. Thanks though Alice." She said sharply.

_How come I snapped at her? _Annabelle asked herself. _We did. So you can see, just how much control I have over you. _Christine's voice invaded her mind again.

_No!_

Annabelle ignored her thoughts, and continued to read her book. The lesson finally passed, and Annabelle was even more sleepy than before. She ran to her next class, careful not to fall like she normally would.

When she got to Transfiguration, she started to read Les Miserables again. And she felt her head fall onto the desk, and began to dream.

"_Hello Annabelle, long time, no see, some speak." Christine laughed._

_"Was that meant to be funny?" Annabelle asked her._

_"I thought it was rather funny!" Christine said._ "_Now to business!"_

_"No! How many times must I tell you, Christine, I will not comply with your plan!"_

_"You've no choice anymore Annie." Christine sneered_. "_The more you dream of me, the more I can control you, and since I am in your subconscious at the moment, I control your dreams already! "_

_"Then I will wake myself up! _Annabelle said. _AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Annabelle screamed, hoping it would wake her up._

_"It won't work, foolish sister! You can't wake yourself up that way." Christine laughed, but even while she said it, Annabelle felt herself being shooken awake. She grinned smugly at Christine._

_"Damn sleep talking!" Christine muttered._

Annabelle awoke with a start.

"Are you alright Annabelle?" Alice asked, "You were screaming, and thrashing around on your desk, and you started to tear at yourself..." Her voice trailed off, worriedly.

"Where am I?" Annabelle looked around. She saw everything was white, and she was sitting on a feathery cot. She was in a hospital gown too. _Damn. _She thought. _The hospital wing! AGAIN!_

"The hospital wing. We figured, you might start needing therapy, or a dreamless sleep potion. So we brought you to see Madame Pomphrey." Lyra whispered.

Just then, as if she'd heard her name mentioned, Madame Pomphrey entered the wing, tutting under her breath, and muttering about people needing their rest.

"Shoo! Shoo! You girls, she's awake, you must go, I need to talk to her alone!" She gestured wildly with her hands.

Once they were gone, Madame Pomphrey started to pour a potion into a flask. Annabelle looked at it curiously. It smelled like a dreamless sleep potion. But it looked completely different.

Madame Pomphrey must have looked at her expression, so she began to explain. "You have a mixture of nightmare disorder and sleep terrors, Miss Potter." She said, her voice soft. "We ran diagnostic spells and such. And we think, if you go to counseling once everyday, to describe each nightmare, and talk about any stress in your life, and how long you've had them.

"This potion is a different version of a dreamless sleep potion, as you've already figured out. But, it is supposed to help the nightmares be less intense. It can't cure nightmare disorder or sleep terrors completely, but it helps. It is chronic. It would be too dangerous to mess with that portion of the brain permanantly, something could go greatly wrong." She said, after seeing the questioning look on Annabelle's face. "We are going to contact your mother about this. She can help too."

Annabelle heard, in the deep bowels of her mind, Christine laughing, her cold laughter resonated against all of the memories of her. All of the memories of her mother dying in her dreams.

And she knew then, life would not be as great as she had planned for the year.


End file.
